CN113939031A

CN113939031A - Reserved resource pool assisted access resource selection for small data transmissions

Info

Publication number: CN113939031A
Application number: CN202111356430.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: W·曾; J·B·索里阿加; 季庭方; J·E·斯米; N·布尚
Original assignee: Qualcomm Inc
Current assignee: Qualcomm Inc
Priority date: 2015-03-14
Filing date: 2016-02-29
Publication date: 2022-01-14
Also published as: CN107637128B; KR20170127442A; US20160270053A1; BR112017019599A2; US20190239209A1; WO2016148885A1; KR102100022B1; EP3941151A1; EP3272177A1; EP3941151B1; JP2018511994A; EP3272177B1; US11006424B2; US10285180B2; JP6606189B2; JP6825063B2; JP2020025303A; CN107637128A

Abstract

Wireless communication systems and methods are disclosed that relate to reducing the probability of collisions of unlicensed transmissions from internet of everything (IOE) devices, while not increasing the search complexity at the base station. The IOE device randomly selects a first access resource from a common pool searched by the base station to initiate a transmission. The IOE device also requests, from the base station, a second access resource from a reserved access pool that the base station does not search for if it is predicted that a metric associated with the data transmission exceeds a threshold. The IOE device includes the request in a data transfer. After the base station identifies available resources in the reserved access pool, the base station and the IOE device switch to a second access resource, which is used by the IOE device to complete the data transmission.

Description

Reserved resource pool assisted access resource selection for small data transmissions

The present application is a divisional application of chinese patent application having an application date of 2016, 2, 29 and an application number of 201680015174.2.

Cross Reference to Related Applications

This application claims priority to U.S. non-provisional application No.14/926,809 filed on day 29 of 10/2015 and claims benefit to U.S. provisional patent application No.62/133,365 filed on day 14 of 3/2015, and both applications are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties for all applicable purposes as if fully set forth below.

Technical Field

The present application relates generally to wireless communication systems, and more particularly to improving uplink communication from a communication device, such as an "internet of everything" (IOE) device, to a base station (or other communication device) having access to a shared common access resource pool. Certain embodiments may enable and provide wireless communication devices that efficiently use power resources, limit network interference, maintain proper user experience behavior, and support a large number of wireless devices in a communication network paradigm.

Background

Data traffic over networks such as cellular networks has rapidly developed in recent years. This growth is driven by the increasing functionality of traditional mobile devices (e.g., cell phones/smart phones) as well as other connected devices (e.g., tablet computers, laptop computers) and "smart terminals" such as IOE (which is also referred to as "internet of things") devices. Some examples of smart terminals include devices that integrate sensors or meters to capture information that is then relayed to a remote system (e.g., a central server). This may include smart metering, temperature monitoring, pressure monitoring, fluid flow monitoring, inventory monitoring, water level monitoring, equipment monitoring, medical monitoring, wildlife monitoring, weather and geological event monitoring, fleet management and tracking, remote security sensing, physical access control, transaction-based business charging, and other applications.

Before these devices can send any data on the network, they must establish a radio link connection with the network, which includes lengthy signaling procedures for requesting use of the access resources (e.g., time and/or frequency elements in a resource block) and subsequent grants of the access resources from the base station. The amount of overhead and/or time required to establish a radio link connection using such access request/grant methods becomes a problem for IOE devices, which typically (by their very nature) are embedded with devices or objects that are typically designed to consume low power consumption and have low cost. For example, IOE devices (e.g., smart meters for utilities) may be expected to last for several years without replacement or recharging (if recharging is possible).

Disclosure of Invention

The following presents a simplified summary of some aspects of the disclosure in order to provide a basic understanding of the discussed technology. This summary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated features of the disclosure, and is intended to neither identify key or critical elements of all aspects of the disclosure, nor delineate the scope of any or all aspects of the disclosure. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects of the disclosure in a general form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

Instead of access request/grant, implementing an unlicensed transmission mechanism may be more energy efficient. For unlicensed transmissions, the IOE device directly begins transmitting its data (which is typically small in comparison to voice/video and so on) without waiting for the base station (or other network element) to allocate access resources. To achieve this goal, a common pool with a limited number of access resources (e.g., frequencies, time slots, and/or codewords) may be maintained such that the IOE device selects one or more access resources from which to begin unlicensed transmissions.

Although there is a relatively low probability that two or more IOE devices will select the same access resource from a common pool at the same time (referred to as a "collision"), situations sometimes arise where this probability is changed. For example, IOE devices that suffer a large amount of path loss (e.g., caused by being located far from a base station and/or deployed in a high attenuation environment such as a basement or other structure) require significantly longer transmission times than other IOE devices accessing the same common access resource pool. As a result, IOE devices that require longer transmission times have a higher probability of colliding with new transmissions of other IOE devices attempting to use the same access resources from the common pool. While increasing the common pool size may help to reduce the collision probability, it has the disadvantage of increasing the search complexity to the base station.

As a result, there is a need for a technique to reduce the probability of collisions while not increasing the search complexity of base stations when selecting access resources for unlicensed transmissions that are available in a common access resource pool in a network (e.g., a cellular network). These aspects and features are provided for the arrangements and embodiments of the technology discussed herein.

For example, in one aspect of the disclosure, a method for wireless communication includes: transmitting, as part of the unlicensed transmission, a first set of data from the first wireless communication device to the second wireless communication device using a first access resource selected from a pool of common access resources; requesting, by the first wireless communication device, the second wireless communication device to provide second access resources from a reserved access pool based on a metric; and after transitioning to the second access resource, transmitting, by the first wireless communication device, a second set of data to the second wireless communication device using the second access resource.

In a further aspect of the disclosure, a method for wireless communication includes: searching, by a first wireless communication device, a pool of common access resources to recover a first set of data received from a second wireless communication device using a selected first access resource from the pool of common access resources as part of an unlicensed transmission; receiving, at the first wireless communication device, a request from the second wireless communication device to provide the second wireless communication device with a second access resource selected from a reserved access pool; transmitting, to the second wireless communication device, an identification of the second access resource selected from the reserved access pool; and switching to the second access resource to recover a second data set from the second wireless communication device without searching the reserved access pool.

In a further aspect of the disclosure, a first wireless communication device comprises: a processor configured to select a first access resource from a pool of common access resources as part of an unlicensed transmission for a second wireless communication device, the second wireless communication device being requested to provide a second access resource from a reserved access pool based on a metric; a transceiver configured to transmit a first data set to the second wireless communication device using the first access resource, wherein the first data set comprises: in response to the determined request for the second access resource, the transceiver is further configured to transmit a second data set to the second wireless communication device using the second access resource.

In a further aspect of the disclosure, a first wireless communication device comprises: a transceiver configured to receive a first data set from a second wireless communication device, wherein the first data set is transmitted from the second wireless communication device as part of an unlicensed transmission using a first access resource selected from a common pool of access resources; a resource coordinator configured to search the pool of common access resources to recover the first data set received from the second wireless communication device, wherein the transceiver is further configured to receive a request from the second wireless communication device to provide a second access resource selected from a reserved access pool, and to transmit an identification of the second access resource selected from the reserved access pool to the second wireless communication device; and a processor configured to switch the transceiver to the second access resource to recover a second data set from the second wireless communication device without searching the reserved access pool.

In a further aspect of the present disclosure, a computer readable medium having program code recorded thereon includes program code, the program code comprising: code for causing the first wireless communication device to transmit a first set of data to the second wireless communication device using a first access resource selected from a common access resource pool as part of the unlicensed transmission; code for causing the first wireless communication device to request the second wireless communication device to provide second access resources from a reserved access pool in response to determining that the unlicensed transmission exceeds a threshold; and code for causing the first wireless communication device to transmit a second set of data to the second wireless communication device using the second access resource after transitioning to the second access resource.

In a further aspect of the present disclosure, a computer readable medium having program code recorded thereon includes program code, the program code comprising: code for causing a first wireless communication device to search a pool of common access resources to recover a first set of data received from the second wireless communication device using a first access resource selected from the pool of common access resources as part of an unlicensed transmission; code for causing the first wireless communication device to receive, from the second wireless communication device, a request to provide the second wireless communication device with a selected second access resource from a reserved access pool; code for causing the first wireless communication device to transmit to the second wireless communication device an identification of the second access resource selected from the reserved access pool; and code for causing the first wireless communication device to switch to the second access resource to recover a second set of data from the second wireless communication device without searching the reserved access pool.

In a further aspect of the disclosure, a first wireless communication device comprises: means for transmitting a first data set to a second wireless communication device using a first access resource selected from a common access resource pool as part of an unlicensed transmission; means for requesting the second wireless communication device to provide second access resources from a reserved access pool in response to determining that the unlicensed transmission exceeds a threshold; and means for transmitting a second data set to the second wireless communication device using the second access resource after transitioning to the second access resource.

In a further aspect of the disclosure, a first wireless communication device comprises: means for searching a pool of common access resources to recover a first set of data received from a second wireless communication device using a first access resource selected from the pool of common access resources as part of an unlicensed transmission; means for receiving, from the second wireless communication device, a request to provide the second wireless communication device with a second access resource selected from a reserved access pool; means for transmitting, to the second wireless communication device, an identification of the second access resource selected from the reserved access pool; and means for switching to the second access resource to recover a second data set from the second wireless communication device without searching the reserved access pool.

Other aspects, features and embodiments of the disclosure will become apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art upon review of the following description of specific, exemplary embodiments of the disclosure in conjunction with the accompanying figures. While features of the disclosure are discussed with respect to certain embodiments and figures below, all embodiments of the disclosure may include one or more of the advantageous features discussed herein. In other words, while one or more embodiments are discussed as having certain advantageous features, one or more of these features may also be used in accordance with the various embodiments of the present disclosure discussed herein. In a similar manner, although exemplary embodiments are discussed below as being device, system, or method embodiments, it should be understood that these exemplary embodiments can be implemented with a wide variety of devices, systems, and methods.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a diagram of an example wireless communication environment, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram of an example communication device, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 3 is a block diagram of an example base station, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 4 is a diagram illustrating an unauthorized transmission, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 5 is a diagram illustrating access resource pools for unlicensed transmissions, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 6 is a diagram of unauthorized transmission communication between devices, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method for reducing collisions in unlicensed transmissions, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method for reducing collisions in unlicensed transmissions in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

The detailed description set forth below in connection with the appended drawings is intended as a description of various configurations only and is not intended to represent the only configurations in which the concepts described herein may be practiced. The detailed description includes specific details for the purpose of providing a thorough understanding of various concepts. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that these concepts may be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well-known structures and components are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring such concepts.

The techniques described herein may be used for various wireless communication networks such as CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, SC-FDMA and other networks. The terms "network" and "system" are often used interchangeably. A CDMA network may implement a radio technology such as Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), CDMA2000, and so on. UTRA includes wideband CDMA (wcdma) and other variants of CDMA. CDMA2000 covers IS-2000, IS-95 and IS-856 standards. TDMA networks may implement wireless technologies such as global system for mobile communications (GSM). An OFDMA network may implement wireless technologies such as evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), IEEE 802.11(Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16(WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, Flash-OFDMA, and the like. UTRA and E-UTRA are part of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). The 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) and advanced (LTE-a) are new (e.g., 4G networks) releases of UMTS that employ E-UTRA. UTRA, E-UTRA, UMTS, LTE-A, and GSM are described in documents from an organization named "third Generation partnership project" (3 GPP). CDMA2000 and UMB are described in documents from an organization named "third generation partnership project 2" (3GPP 2). The techniques described herein may be used for the wireless networks and wireless technologies mentioned above as well as other wireless networks and wireless technologies, e.g., next generation (e.g., fifth generation (5G)) networks.

Embodiments of the present disclosure introduce systems and techniques for reducing the probability of collisions between communication devices. For example, certain features enable and provide for collision reduction of communications between different internet of everything (IOE) devices that are engaged in unauthorized transmissions with a base station. This can be achieved without increasing the search complexity of the network side components (e.g., base stations).

To achieve this, two different access resource pools are typically provided. First, the common access resource pool searched by the base station has relatively few access resources. Second, the reserved access resource access pool, which the base station does not search, has a relatively large number of access resources. The reserved access pool may eliminate the possibility of collisions for those IOE devices that transition during transmissions to access resources in the reserved access pool, under control of the base station.

In some embodiments, an IOE device having data to send randomly selects a first access resource from a common pool to use when sending data to a base station with unlicensed transmission. If the IOE device predicts (e.g., based on some monitored metric of the downlink) that the data transmission will not exceed a threshold (e.g., the Received Signal Strength (RSS) of the downlink channel is less than a threshold, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the channel is greater than a threshold, the data size is less than a threshold amount, and/or the estimated or actual transmission time does not exceed a predetermined amount), the IOE device initiates and completes the transmission using the first access resource. If the IOE device predicts that a data transmission (e.g., some predicted metric for the transmission, such as the time listed above or other metric) will exceed a threshold, the IOE device also includes a request for a second access resource from the reserved access pool. The IOE device includes the request as part of a transmission to the base station (e.g., a flag set in a header) to indicate to the base station to request the second access resource to continue communicating with the IOE device using the second access resource in place of the first access resource.

The base station responds to the request by locating from the reserved access pool access resources that are not used by other IOE devices. This may avoid the probability of collision with IOE devices using access resources from the reserved access pool. The base station may identify this second access resource to the requesting IOE device in an acknowledgement message for the IOE device (e.g., information identifying which resources to use if the IOE device maintains a copy of the reserved access pool for reference, or actual parameters of the second access resource). After the IOE device receives the acknowledgement and accompanying information, the IOE device and the base station transition to the second access resource and complete the transmission using the second access resource. By switching to the second access resource, an IOE device predicting a longer transmission time reduces the probability that another IOE device will randomly select the same access resource from a smaller common pool before the IOE device completes its transmission. Further, this can be done without increasing the search complexity of the base station (e.g., by adding more access resources to the collision reduction pool where no search is performed rather than the common pool where a search is to be performed).

Fig. 1 illustrates a wireless network 100 in accordance with various aspects of the disclosure. Wireless network 100 may include multiple base stations 104 and multiple User Equipment (UE)106, all located in one or more cells 102 as shown in fig. 1. Wireless network 100 may support operation on multiple carriers (waveform signals of different frequencies). Multicarrier transmitters may transmit modulated signals on multiple carriers simultaneously. For example, each modulated signal may be a multicarrier channel modulated in accordance with the various radio technologies described above. Each modulated signal may be transmitted on a different carrier and may carry control information (e.g., pilot signals, control channels, etc.), overhead information, data, and so on. Wireless network 100 may be a multi-carrier LTE network capable of efficiently allocating network resources. Wireless network 100 is one example of a network to which various aspects of the present disclosure apply.

The base station 104 as discussed herein may have various features. In some scenarios, for example, it may comprise an evolved node b (enodeb) in the LTE context. The base station 104 may also be referred to as a base transceiver station or an access point. It should be appreciated that there may be one to more base stations, as well as a wide variety of different types of base stations (e.g., macro, pico, and/or femto base stations). Base stations 104 may communicate with each other and other networks via one or more backhaul links. The base station 104 communicates with the UE106 as shown, including via a direct wireless connection or indirectly (e.g., via a relay device). The UE106 may communicate with the base station 104 via the uplink and the downlink. The downlink (or forward link) refers to the communication link from the base stations 104 to the UEs 106. The uplink (or reverse link) refers to the communication link from the UEs 106 to the base stations 104.

The UEs 106 may be dispersed throughout the wireless network 100, and each UE106 may be stationary or mobile. A UE may also be referred to as a terminal, mobile station, subscriber unit, etc. The UE106 may be a cellular phone, a smart phone, a personal digital assistant, a wireless modem, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, an entertainment device, a medical device/equipment, a biological device/equipment, fitness/sports equipment, vehicle components/sensors, and so forth. Wireless network 100 is one example of a network to which various aspects of the present disclosure apply.

In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, some of the UEs 106 may be internet of everything (IOE) devices, referred to herein as IOE devices 106, although it should be appreciated that this is merely for simplicity, and that the base station 104 may communicate with various different types of devices at the same or different times. More or fewer IOE devices 106 than shown may be deployed in the wireless network 100. The IOE device 106 may be stand alone or integrated with other devices. The IOE device 106 may capture information that is then relayed to a remote system. Because the IOE device 106 is integrated into a device or object, it has limited power resources in order to render these devices or objects "smart" and need to be able to operate for extended periods of time (e.g., days, weeks, months, or years) without replacement or recharging. As a result, the IOE device 106 may synchronize with beacons that the base station 104 periodically transmits. As a result of this synchronization, each of the IOE devices 106 may wake up only at predefined intervals based on the beacon in order to reduce power consumption. In addition to communicating with the base stations 104, the IOE devices 106 can be linked to each other, e.g., via D2D (e.g., peer-to-peer and/or mesh) links. Furthermore, aspects of the present disclosure may be applicable to other device types, for example, peripheral devices and/or central nodes or peers between various device types.

The techniques described herein may be used for single-input single-output (SISO) systems, single-input multiple-output (SIMO) systems, multiple-input single-output (MISO) systems, and multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems. These techniques may be used for non-orthogonal based systems and other multi-carrier communication systems. Furthermore, embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to any type of modulation scheme, and not orthogonal waveforms for illustration purposes. Non-orthogonal waveforms are useful in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, since IOE devices 106 typically have only a small amount of data to send during a given awake period, other types of modulation typically consume significantly more overhead and other resources, prematurely draining the battery life of the IOE devices 106. Furthermore, IOE devices 106 typically operate in a low power range, which results in less interference in shared frequencies/time slots than more powerful UEs 106. For example, non-orthogonal waveforms that rely on scrambling codes or interleaving may be used, where in this case the cell 102 is large and the frequency bandwidth is dedicated to IOE device communications. For example, the frequency may depend on the following circumstances: the cell 102 has a smaller coverage area and the IOE device 106 shares the same bandwidth with other competing devices (e.g., other types of UEs).

As discussed in more detail below, the IOE device 106 first initiates an unlicensed transmission by selecting (e.g., randomly) an access resource from a pool of common access resources. Since other IOE devices 106 accessing the same base station 104 also randomly select from the same common pool, there is a probability of collision that two IOE devices 106 randomly select the same access resource from the common pool. Typically, the data sent by the IOE devices 106 using unlicensed transmissions is sufficiently small (e.g., a few hundred bytes), and the IOE devices 106 use the selected access resources for only a short duration even with relatively low data rates (and thus, there is less likelihood that additional IOE devices 106 will randomly select the same access resources during unlicensed transmissions). For example, such a short duration may correspond to a duration for which the probability of access collision is still low, which may depend on several different factors such as: the number of active devices (e.g., IOE devices 106) in an area (e.g., cell), the traffic pattern of each device, and so on. However, situations may arise that cause the transmission to last longer, which increases the probability of an access collision with another IOE device 106 randomly selecting the same access resource before the first IOE device 106 completes its unlicensed transmission. For example, this situation may occur: the connection with the base station 104 is poor (e.g., significant path loss between the IOE device 106 and the base station 104, or the IOE device 106 is located in a high attenuation environment), an increase in the number of active devices in the cell, and a traffic pattern for each device, to name a few.

To address this problem, a common pool of access resources may be increased in order to have more access resources available for random selection. This reduces the probability of collisions, since each IOE device 106 randomly selects an access resource from the common pool. However, as the number of access resources in the common pool increases, the search complexity for the base station also increases, which is undesirable. As used herein, search complexity refers to: as the base station 104 receives unlicensed transmissions from various IOE devices 106 within its coverage area, it repeatedly searches for different access resource requirements (a combination of time and scrambling code/interleaving as discussed further below). The base station 104 does not know when particular IOE devices 106 are awake or what access resources they select (until the base station 104 receives a transmission) because of the unauthorized transmission, and therefore the base station 104 needs to perform such a search. In one embodiment, the base station 104 performs this search by comparing the received unlicensed transmission to each scrambling code or interleaver in the common access resource pool to detect which particular scrambling code or interleaver results in a higher energy output.

Since the search complexity increases as the size of the public access resource pool increases, the public access resource pool can be kept at a manageable size, thereby setting an upper limit on the level of the search complexity of the base station, but at the same time, limiting how much the collision probability can be reduced. To address this continuing need to reduce the probability of collisions, embodiments of the present disclosure provide additional reserved access pools of access resources.

This is illustrated in fig. 5, fig. 5 showing a diagram of access resource pools for unlicensed transmissions, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In fig. 5, a pool of common access resources 502 is shown, as well as a reserved access pool of access resources. The common access resource pool 502 has a smaller number of access resources 504 than the reserved access pool 506. Each access resource may be a pair of two resources, such as:

[ scrambling code, access time ]; or

[ interleaver, access time ].

The scrambling code is a particular sequence of bits that may be used to scramble data sent to the base station 104, for example, by multiplying the data bits with the scrambling code. The interleaver involves some sort of permutation on the data bits being transmitted. These two alternative pairs are useful, for example, as described above, where the non-orthogonal waveforms are used without authorization to transmit. In embodiments where the cell 102 in fig. 1 is small, another access resource may be a pair frequency, access time, as will be appreciated.

Returning to fig. 5, the reserved access pool 506 of access resources is an additional access resource pool 508 that remains separate from the common access resource pool 502. As shown in fig. 5, there are significantly more access resources 508 in the reserved access pool 506 than access resources 504 in the common access resource pool 502. For example, there may be 10-30 times more access resources 508 in the reserved access pool 506 (e.g., 16 or 32 access resources in the common access resource pool 502 versus 500-1000 in the reserved access pool 506). This is by way of example only; it should be appreciated that other numbers can be maintained in each respective pool, wherein the number of access resources 508 in the reserved access pool 506 is greater than the number of access resources 504 in the common access resource pool 502. The access resources 508 in the reserved access pool 506 may be in the same frequency band as the access resources 504 in the common access resource pool 502 (e.g., where they are scrambling codes or interleaver pairs), or alternatively in a different frequency band. In one embodiment, public access resource pool 502 and reserved access pool 506 do not share any common pair of access resources. Thus, an IOE device 106 that switches to using an access resource 508 from the reserved access pool 506 does not have any probability of collision with another IOE device 106 that randomly selects an access resource from the common access resource pool 502, since there is no pair of access resources in common between the two.

In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, the base station 104 may maintain a reserved access pool 506, for example, by keeping track of which particular access resources 508 the requestor IOE device 106 is using at a given point in time. This may be accomplished based on metadata associated with each access resource 508 and/or by maintaining a look-up table, or similarly, the base station 104 may check at the time of each request, update (e.g., identification of the resource, or all parameters of the resource needed when the requesting IOE device 106 is used based on the parameters) when identifying and sending to the requesting IOE device 106 a particular access resource 508 (which is identified as available after the check). Further, once the IOE device 106 completes its transmission using the access resource from the reserved access pool, the base station 104 may update the state of the access resource, thereby freeing up that particular resource for reuse with another requesting IOE device 106.

Both the common access resource pool 502 and the reserved access pool 506 may be received from the base station 104 at some previous point in time (e.g., as part of a System Information Block (SIB)). These pools may then be stored in the IOE device 106 (e.g., in the memory 204 described below with reference to fig. 2) and accessed as needed. For example, with respect to the reserved access pool 506, in particular, the IOE device 106 may maintain a copy such that when requesting a second access resource from the reserved access pool 506 from the base station 104, the base station 104 may only need to identify the particular access resource from the reserved access pool 506 (rather than a more complete set of parameters). This may reduce the amount of data consumed for providing the requested acknowledgement of the second access resource 508 from the reserved access pool 506 (or other transmission from the base station 104), since the identification information element (e.g., table location identifier) may be sent instead of a more complete parameter that may be used, without referencing any particular pool. These pools may remain static during transmission or be updated periodically (e.g., as part of a synchronization message) using information received from the base station 104.

Continuing now with the example of fig. 1 above, when a situation occurs in which the IOE device 106 determines that an unlicensed transmission will exceed some threshold metric (e.g., the Received Signal Strength (RSS) of a downlink channel is less than a threshold value, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the channel is less than a threshold value, the data size is greater than a threshold number, and/or the estimated or actual transmission time exceeds a predetermined number), the IOE device 106 also requests access resources from the reserved access pool 506 from the base station 104, wherein the base station 104 may operate as a management entity for allocating the access resources 508 to a plurality of IOE devices 106 simultaneously or at different times.

The IOE device 106 may include the request for the second access resource 508 from the reserved access pool 506 as a header in the unlicensed transmission to the base station 104. In particular, the request may be included as part of an unlicensed transmission to the base station 104 while using an access resource (one of the access resources 504) from the common access resource pool 502. After sending the request, the IOE device 106 may send the data as part of the unlicensed transmission until an acknowledgement (or other data transmission from the base station 104) is received from the base station 104, where the acknowledgement identifies (or explicitly includes) the second access resource from the reserved access pool 506 that the IOE device 106 will use. Upon receiving this information, both the IOE device 106 and the base station 104 transition to the selected access resource 508 from the reserved access pool 506 and continue to communicate until the data is completely transmitted.

In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, the reserved access pool 506 eliminates the probability of collisions between unauthorized transmissions of IOE devices 106 requesting use of resources from the reserved access pool 506, while still limiting the search complexity of the base station 104. This is because the base station 104 focuses its repeated searches on the common access resource pool 502 rather than the reserved access pool 506, where the reserved access pool 506 may have a significantly greater number of access resources 508 than the amount of access resources available in the common access resource pool 502. Referring specifically to the reserved access pool 506, under the control of the base station 104 (or some other entity that is part of the base station 104, or other network entity in communication with the base station 104), the same access resources 508 from the reserved access pool 506 are not allocated to both requesting IOE devices 106, thereby eliminating the probability of collisions with IOE devices 106 requesting access resources 508 from the reserved access pool 506.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram of an IOE device 106, according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The IOE device 106 may have any of a variety of configurations for the various IOE applications described above. The IOE device 106 may include a processor 202, a memory 204, a Tx selection module 208, a transceiver 210, and an antenna 216. These elements may be in direct or indirect communication with each other, e.g., via one or more buses.

The processor 202 may include a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a controller, a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) device, another hardware device, a firmware device, or any combination thereof configured to perform the operations described herein above with reference to the IOE device 106 introduced in fig. 1 and discussed in more detail below. The processor 202 may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a number of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

The memory 204 may include cache memory (e.g., cache memory of the processor 202), Random Access Memory (RAM), magnetoresistive RAM (mram), read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, solid-state memory devices, hard drives, other forms of volatile and non-volatile memory, or combinations of different types of memory. In one embodiment, memory 204 includes non-transitory computer readable media. The memory 204 may store instructions 206. The instructions 206 may include: when executed by the processor 202, cause the processor 202 to perform the operations described herein with reference to the IOE device 106 in connection with embodiments of the present disclosure. The instructions 206 may also be referred to as code. The terms "instructions" and "code" may include any type of computer-readable statements. For example, the terms "instructions" and "code" may refer to one or more programs, routines, subroutines, functions, procedures, and the like. The "instructions" and "code" may comprise a single computer-readable statement or multiple computer-readable statements.

The Tx selection module 208 may be used to randomly select an access resource 504 from the common access resource pool 502 and include a request for an access resource 508 from a reserved access pool 506 (described above with reference to fig. 1 and 5). The Tx selection module 208 may randomly select an access resource 504 for initiating an unlicensed transmission to the base station 104. Simultaneously or at a later time, the Tx selection module 208 may also request access resources 508 from the reserved access pool 506 from the base station 104. The Tx selection module 208 may include a request for access resources 508 in response to first predicting or determining that the data to be transmitted will take a sufficiently long time (becoming more likely to collide with other IOE devices 106 (e.g., other IOE devices 106 may randomly select the same access resource 504 from the common access resource pool 502 before the IOE device 106 completes its transmission of data).

For example, the Tx selection module 208 may cooperate with other elements of the IOE device 106 to determine one or more parameters/metrics for one or both of the downlink from the base station 104 or the uplink to the base station 104. In one embodiment, the IOE device 106 monitors downlink information (e.g., one or more broadcast/beacon/other types of synchronization signals) from the base station 104 to determine the RSS and/or SNR of the downlink channel. The Tx selection module 208 may use this information to predict the quality of the uplink channel (e.g., RSS, SNR, estimated total transmission time) before the IOE device 106 initiates an unlicensed transmission to the base station 104. Further, the Tx selection module 208 may also compare the prediction to one or more threshold values and determine that a request for a second access resource 508 in the reserved access pool 506 is also included in its unlicensed transmission to the base station 104 (where, for example, the base station 104 manages the reserved access 506) before initiating the unlicensed transmission. In one embodiment, the Tx selection module 208 may select/request both access resources 504/508 at the same or approximately the same time (respectively). After making the selection, the IOE device 106 may initiate an unlicensed transmission using the first selected access resource 504 from the common pool. As part of this transmission, the Tx selection module 208 may cause the request to be included for the base station to select/identify the second access resource 508.

As another example, the Tx selection module 208 may provide the first selected access resource 504 for initiating the unlicensed transmission based on a prediction that the transmission should have a sufficiently short duration (which has a lower probability of collision) without also including a request for the second access resource 508. However, as the transmission begins, the IOE device 106 may monitor the uplink to the base station 104 and determine, based on the uplink quality and/or transmission duration, that the probability of collision increases during the transmission to exceed a threshold level (e.g., by determining a signal metric, a data size metric, a transmission time metric, etc.). This may trigger the Tx selection module 208 to request the second access resource 508 from the reserved access pool 506 from the base station 104 at the point in time in the transmission (e.g., as part of the header of the transmission). In this way, requests for access resources 508 from the reserved access pool 506 are delayed until the Tx selection module 208 determines that a handover may be used to reduce the probability of collisions.

In either embodiment, the request may assume a different form, including, for example: a flag (whether single bit or multi-bit) included in a header of an unlicensed transmission to a base station 104, or as part of a data payload. These are listed by way of example only.

The transceiver 210 may include a modem subsystem 212 and a Radio Frequency (RF) unit 214. The transceiver 210 is configured for bidirectional communication with other devices, such as the base station 104. The modem subsystem 212 may be configured to modulate and/or encode data from the memory 204 and/or the Tx selection module 208 (and/or from another source, such as some type of sensor) according to a Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) (e.g., a Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) coding scheme, a turbo coding scheme, a convolutional coding scheme, etc.). RF unit 214 may be configured to process (e.g., perform analog-to-digital conversion or digital-to-analog conversion, etc.) modulated/encoded data (for outbound transmissions) from modem subsystem 212 or transmissions originating from another source (e.g., base station 104). Although shown as being integrated with the transceiver 210, the modem subsystem 212 and the RF unit 214 may be separate devices that are coupled together at the IOE device 106 to enable the IOE device 106 to communicate with other devices.

RF unit 214 may provide modulated and/or processed data (e.g., data packets (or, more generally, data messages containing one or more data packets and other information)) to an antenna 216 for transmission to one or more other devices. This may include, for example: according to an embodiment of the disclosure, the data is transmitted to the base station 104. The antenna 216 may also receive data messages transmitted from the base station 104, provide the received data messages for processing and/or demodulation at the transceiver 210. Although fig. 2 shows antenna 216 as a single antenna, antenna 216 may include multiple antennas of similar or different designs in order to maintain multiple transmission links.

Fig. 3 is a block diagram of an example base station 104, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. Base station 104 may include a processor 302, a memory 304, a resource coordination module 308, a transceiver 310, and an antenna 316. These elements may be in direct or indirect communication with each other, e.g., via one or more buses. The base station 104 may be an evolved node b (enodeb), a macro cell, a pico cell, a femto cell, a relay station, an access point, or another electronic device that may be used to perform the operations described herein with reference to the base station 104. The base station 104 may operate in accordance with one or more communication standards such as: for example, a third generation (3G) wireless communication standard, a fourth generation (4G) wireless communication standard, a Long Term Evolution (LTE) wireless communication standard, an LTE advanced wireless communication standard, or another wireless communication standard now known or later developed (e.g., a next generation network operating according to a 5G protocol).

The processor 302 may include: a CPU, DSP, ASIC, controller, FPGA device, another hardware device, firmware device, or any combination thereof configured to perform the operations described herein with reference to the base station 104 introduced in fig. 1 above. The processor 302 may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

The memory 304 may include cache memory (e.g., cache memory of the processor 302), RAM, MRAM, ROM, PROM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory, a solid state memory device, one or more hard drives, other forms of volatile and non-volatile memory, or combinations of different types of memory. In one embodiment, memory 304 includes non-transitory computer-readable media. The memory 304 may store instructions 306. The instructions 306 may include: when executed by the processor 302, cause the processor 302 to perform the operations described herein with reference to the base station 104 in connection with the embodiments of the present disclosure. The instructions 306 may also be referred to as code, which may be broadly interpreted to include any type of computer-readable statements, as discussed above with reference to FIG. 2.

The resource coordination module 308 may be used to periodically or continuously search all scrambling codes, interleaver permutations, and/or frequencies maintained by the common access resource pool 502 (e.g., copies of which are stored in the memory 304 that match the common access resource pool 502 stored at the IOE devices 106) in an attempt to identify data streams arriving from one or more IOE devices 106. In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, the common access resource pool 502 is kept relatively small in size in order to limit the search complexity (and corresponding computational resource usage) imposed for the base station 104. As mentioned previously, the search module 308 focuses its search on the common access resource pool 502, but does not search the reserved access pool 506.

The resource coordination module 308 may also be used to search for and identify access resources 508 in the reserved access pool 506 in response to a request from the IOE device 106. To help achieve this goal, the resource coordination module 308 may also track usage of the access resources 508, for example, through metadata tracking, lookup tables, or other types of databases, to name a few. As described above, the resource coordination module 308 may track which access resources 508 in the reserved access pool 506 are in use and therefore cannot identify in response to a new request. In addition, the resource coordination module 308 can also provide the identification (and/or other specific parameters for the selected access resource) to the processor 302 for inclusion in the transmission and update the now unavailable status of the selected access resource to the system. Once the transmission is complete (or times out, as should be appreciated), the resource coordination module 308 can update its tracking information so that the particular access resource 308 is again available for selection in response to a different request.

The transceiver 310 may include a modem subsystem 312 and a Radio Frequency (RF) unit 314. The transceiver 310 is configured to communicate bi-directionally with other devices, such as the IOE device 106 (and other types of UEs 106). Modem subsystem 312 may be configured to modulate and/or encode data according to an MCS (some examples of which are listed above with reference to fig. 2). RF unit 314 may be configured to process (e.g., perform analog-to-digital conversion or digital-to-analog conversion, etc.) modulated/encoded data from modem subsystem 312 (for outbound transmissions) or transmissions originating from another source (e.g., IOE device 106). Although shown as being integrated with transceiver 310, modem subsystem 312 and RF unit 314 may be separate devices that are coupled together at base station 104 to enable base station 104 to communicate with other devices.

RF unit 314 may provide the modulated and/or processed data (e.g., data packets) to antenna 316 for transmission to one or more other devices (e.g., IOE device 106). The modem subsystem 312 may modulate and/or encode the data in preparation for transmission. RF unit 314 may receive the modulated and/or encoded data packet and process the data packet before transmitting it to antenna 316. This may include, for example: according to an embodiment of the disclosure, the data message is transmitted to the IOE device 106 or to another base station 104. The antenna 316 may also receive data messages transmitted from the IOE device 106 and/or other UEs 106, provide the received data messages for processing and/or demodulation at the transceiver 310. Although fig. 3 shows antenna 316 as a single antenna, antenna 316 may include multiple antennas of similar or different designs in order to maintain multiple transmission links.

Fig. 4 is a diagram 400 illustrating an unauthorized transmission, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Fig. 4 shows four different IOE devices 106-IOE device 406 (user 1), IOE device 408 (user 2), IOE device 410 (user 3), and IOE device 412 (user 4) initiating an unlicensed transmission to base station 104. It should be appreciated that for simplicity of illustration, four IOE devices are shown: more or fewer IOE devices may initiate an unlicensed transmission at a given point in time according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

As shown in fig. 4, a synchronization message 402a (e.g., a beacon) is sent from the base station 104, wherein the

IOE device

406 and 412 periodically wakes up and synchronizes with it. In fig. 4, each of the

IOE devices

406 and 412 has data to send. After synchronization, each of the

IOE devices

406 and 412 randomly selects an access resource 504 from the common access resource pool 502. Since each access resource 504 has an access time associated with it, each IOE device 406-412 may initiate its particular transmission at a different time.

For example, the

IOE devices

406 and 408 begin their unlicensed transmissions at the access time 404a because each

IOE device

406 and 408 randomly selects an access resource 504 having the same access time 404 a. Since each

IOE device

406 and 408 randomly selects access resource 504, there is some probability that each

IOE device

406 and 408 selects the same access resource, but there is also some probability that they do not. Thus, while each

IOE device

406 and 408 selects an access resource 504 having the same access time, they still randomly select a different access resource 504 with respect to the particular scrambling code or interleaver permutation associated with that access time.

Continuing with the example of fig. 4, the IOE device 410 begins its unlicensed transmission at access time 404b because the access resource 504 with access time 404b was randomly selected from the common access resource pool 502. Further, the IOE device 412 starts its unlicensed transmission at access time 404c because the access resource 504 with access time 404c was randomly selected from the common access resource pool 502. As shown in fig. 4, the total transmission time for the

IOE devices

406 and 410 is longer than the total transmission time for the IOE device 412.

Considering the IOE device 406 as one specific example, prior to initiating a transmission, the IOE device 406 has predicted that a transmission metric for the transmission will exceed a predetermined threshold (e.g., based on RSS, SNR, data size, bit rate, e.g., an estimate for the uplink from downlink measurements, and/or total transmission time, to name a few). Thus, the IOE device 406 may include a request to the base station 104 for identification/selection of the second access resource 508 from the reserved access pool 506. After or at approximately the same time as the selection of the access resource 504, the IOE device 406 may request a second access resource from the reserved access pool 506. Using the transmission initiated at the access time 404a, the IOE device 406 may include a request as part of its data for the base station 104 to identify the IOE device 106 to switch to the second access resource 508 in use. The base station 104 may respond with an acknowledgement including an identification of the second access resource 508 from the reserved access pool 506. As a result, the base station 104 and the IOE device 406 communicate briefly using the first access resource 504, but then switch to the second access resource 508 after the acknowledgement to continue sending data to the base station 104 until completion. In one embodiment, after receiving the acknowledgement, the IOE device 106 and the base station 104 switch to the second access resource 508. In another embodiment, the IOE device 106 or the base station 104 may specify a particular number of subframes and/or time periods to wait before switching.

Considering the IOE device 412 as another specific example with a shorter transmission time, the IOE device 412 may have predicted that the transmission metric will not exceed the threshold before initiating the transmission. As a result, the IOE device 412 can initiate and complete the unlicensed transmission of its data using only the selected access resources 504 from the common access resource pool 502.

As another example, the IOE device 410 may initially predict (e.g., based on some measured quality of its downlink from the base station 104 and/or an amount of data to send) that the uplink will not exceed a predetermined threshold and therefore may not include a request for a second access resource 508 from the reserved access pool 506 maintained by the base station 104. However, as the transmission begins, the IOE device 408 may determine that there is asymmetry between the downlink and uplink, such that the transmission via the uplink takes longer than predicted (and/or expected), which increases the probability of collision with another IOE device 106 that may subsequently wake up and randomly select the same access resource 504 from the common access resource pool 502. As a result, after the determination, the IOE device 410 may include a request at the current stage of transmission to request a second access resource 508 from the reserved access pool 506 from the base station 104. Subsequently, after receiving an acknowledgement from the base station 104 identifying the second access resource 508 (in some embodiments, after a specified number of subframes or time), the IOE device 410 may switch to the second access resource 508 during the transmission, again reducing the probability of collision as the transmission is completed.

An exemplary communication flow for further depicting the example of fig. 4 is shown in fig. 6, where fig. 6 depicts a diagram of an unauthorized transfer communication between an IOE device 106 and a base station 104, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown, fig. 6 depicts communication after the IOE device 106 receives the synchronization message 402 (and after receiving a SIB containing a common access resource pool 502 and a reserved access pool 506).

To begin unlicensed communication, the IOE device 106 randomly selects an ith access resource 504 from among the access resources 504 in the common access resource pool 502 at act 602. At act 604, the IOE device 106 initiates an unlicensed communication (e.g., beginning with

frames

0, 1, etc.) with the base station 104 using the selected access resource 504 i. If the amount of data to be sent is small and/or the uplink is of sufficient quality, the transmission of that data takes a sufficiently small amount of time, with the IOE device 106 using the selected access resource 504i to complete the unlicensed transmission without having to switch to a second access resource 508 from the reserved access pool 506.

The amount of data to be transmitted may be larger and/or the uplink quality is sufficiently poor (so that the transmission of this data may take more time), thus increasing the probability of collisions. In embodiments where a collision is predicted to occur before the IOE device 106 initiates an unauthorized transmission, the IOE device 106 may also include a request for the second access resource 508 sent with the data to the base station 104 at act 604.

After the base station 104 receives the transmission, which includes the request for the second access resource 508, the base station 104 checks the reserved access pool 506 for available access resources 508, such as access resource 508q (for example), at act 606. The search may be for the pool itself, or may be for a database having one or more associated tracking mechanisms (e.g., metadata, tables, linked lists, databases, etc.). During this time, the IOE device 106 continues to transmit data in the subframe using the access resource 504 i. Using the selected access resource 508q, the base station 104 may send an acknowledgement or other message to the IOE device 106 that identifies the access resource 508q (or provides all the necessary details so that the IOE device 106 need not perform any operations other than implementing the details in the message) as reserved and available for use by the IOE device 106 to continue transmission.

At act 608, the base station 104 switches to using the second selected access resource 508q concurrently with the IOE device 106. The IOE device 106 then continues the transmission using the second selected access resource 508q until the transmission is complete. As a result, the probability of a collision occurring between IOE devices 106 selecting the same access resource 504 from the common access resource pool 502 is eliminated (since the second access resource 508q is reserved for the IOE device 106, during which time any other IOE device will not choose to use that second access resource 508q), while also preventing the common access resource pool 502 from being so large as to place an undue burden in terms of search complexity at the base station 104.

As an alternative example, embodiments of the present disclosure may still be implemented in embodiments where collisions are predicted to be unlikely to occur (e.g., based on predicted transmission times or other transmission metrics exceeding a predetermined threshold) before an unauthorized transmission is initiated by the IOE device 106. For example, as transmissions begin using access resource 504i without having to request a second access resource 508 from the reserved access pool 506, the IOE device 106 may monitor the uplink and/or transmission time, comparing the metric to a threshold. If the threshold is exceeded, or predicted to be exceeded based on information of the change in uplink and/or transmission time, the IOE device 106 may proceed to request the second access resource 508.

Upon determining to request the second access resource 508, the IOE device 106 may include the request with the current data segment sent to the base station 104. After receiving an acknowledgement from the base station 104 identifying the selected access resource 508q from the reserved access pool 506 (e.g., as part of act 606), the base station 104 and the IOE device 106 may switch to the second access resource 508q, as described above.

Fig. 7 is a flow chart illustrating an example method 700 for reducing collisions in unlicensed transmissions in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method 700 may be implemented in the IOE device 706. For simplicity of discussion, the method 700 will be described with reference to a single IOE device 106, but it should be appreciated that the aspects described herein may be applicable to multiple IOE devices 106 (which comprise a network of IOE devices). It should be understood that additional method blocks may be provided before, during, and after the blocks of method 700, and that some of the blocks described may be replaced or eliminated for other embodiments of method 700.

At block 702, prior to initiating the unlicensed transmission, the IOE device 106 predicts a transmission metric for the uplink. For example, the IOE device 106 may use the Tx selection module 208 in cooperation with other elements of the IOE device 106 to determine one or more parameters/metrics for the downlink from the base station 104. This may include, for example: downlink information (e.g., one or more broadcast/beacon/other types of synchronization signals) from the base station 104 is monitored to determine the RSS, SNR, bit rate, etc. of the downlink. The IOE device 106 may use this information to predict one or more transmission metrics for the uplink, including, for example: an estimated transmission time is predicted based on the data size and the predicted uplink metric (or measured downlink metric). Additionally or alternatively, the IOE device 106 may analyze the size of the data to be sent as a transmission metric.

At block 704, the IOE device 106 randomly selects a first access resource 504 from the common access resource pool 502. The IOE device 106 uses this first access resource 504 when the IOE device 106 starts sending its data.

At decision block 706, the IOE device 106 determines whether the predicted transmission metric exceeds a threshold (which may involve a value above or below the threshold, depending on the threshold type). For example, the IOE device 106 may compare the predicted metric to one or more threshold values to assist in determining whether it is useful to transition from a first access resource 504 from the common access resource pool 502 to a second access resource 508 from the reserved access pool 506 during a transmission. For example, the threshold may be an RSS threshold, an SNR threshold, a bit rate threshold, a data size threshold, and/or a predicted transmission time threshold, to name a few.

As a result of determination block 706, if it is determined that the predicted metric exceeds the threshold, the method 700 proceeds to block 708. At block 708, the IOE device 106 requests a second access resource 508 from the reserved access pool 506, where the reserved access pool 506 may be significantly larger than the common access resource pool 502, as described above. In one embodiment, the IOE device 106 may include the request in the transmission at the beginning of the transmission or at some time thereafter.

At block 710, the IOE device 106 initiates an unlicensed transmission with the base station 104 using the first access resource 504 selected at block 704. If it is determined at step 706 that the predicted metric exceeds or will exceed the threshold, the unlicensed transmission at block 710 may include the request (from block 708) for the base station 104 to provide the second access resource 508. If it is determined at block 706 that the predicted metric does not exceed, or will not exceed, the threshold, the method 700 may proceed to block 710 without generating a request to reserve the second access resource 508 in the access pool 506 (block 708). As a result, block 708 may be skipped.

At decision block 712, if a second access resource 508 is requested (and thus, a handover is planned), the method 700 proceeds to decision block 714.

At decision block 714, the IOE device 106 determines whether it received an acknowledgement (or other type of transmission suitable for the purpose) from the base station 104, where the acknowledgement includes an identification of the second access resource 508, for the remaining data that the IOE device 106 subsequently uses for transmission. If the IOE device 106 does not receive an acknowledgement (or related message), the method 700 returns to block 710 to continue sending data. If the IOE device 106 receives the acknowledgement, the method 700 proceeds to block 716.

At block 716, the IOE device 106 switches to the second access resource 508 (at the same subframe as the base station 104, as specified in the acknowledgement or otherwise).

At block 718, the IOE device 106 continues to send data using the second access resource 508 instead of the first access resource 504. The IOE device 106 may continue to send data using the second access resource 508 until the transmission is complete.

Returning to decision block 712, if a handoff is not planned, the method 700 proceeds to optional block 720 or block 724. At block 724, the IOE device 106 completes sending the data using the first access resource 504. This may be due, for example, to a small amount of data and/or a transmission time (e.g., based on uplink quality and/or data size) not exceeding a time threshold, and therefore not having an increased probability of collision with transmissions that take longer.

Focusing now on optional block 720, during a transmission using the first access resource 504, the IOE device 106 may still determine (dynamically, during the transmission) that a certain transmission metric (or metrics) has exceeded or is predicted to exceed one or more thresholds. Accordingly, at block 720, the IOE device 106 determines a transmission metric. To this end, the IOE device 106 may monitor the uplink to the base station 104 and determine one or more transmission metrics (e.g., those described at block 702) based on the uplink quality and/or transmission duration.

At optional decision block 722, the IOE device 106 determines whether the measured (or predicted/calculated) metric exceeds a threshold, similar to that described above with reference to decision block 106. In this manner, the IOE device 106 determines whether the metric (and indirectly, the probability of collision) transitions (or is predicted to transition) to exceed a threshold level during transmission (e.g., by determining a signal metric, a data size metric, a transmission time metric, etc.).

If the metric exceeds the threshold (or is predicted to exceed the threshold now), the method 700 proceeds to block 708, where at block 708 the IOE device 106 requests a reservation of the second access resource 508 in the access pool 506 from the base station 104, and performs as described above with reference to

blocks

708 and 712, and so on.

Returning to optional decision block 722, if the metric does not exceed the threshold (or the prediction will not), the method 700 proceeds to block 724, which operates as described above.

As a result of the above, the probability of collisions (and the probability of eliminating collisions when using the reserved access pool 506) is significantly reduced, since the larger pool of available access resources in the reserved access pool 506 is compared to the number of available access resources in the common access resource pool 502. Further, this functionality is also accomplished without significantly increasing the search complexity at the base station 104, since the base station 104 still searches the common access resource pool 502, without including the reserved access pool 506, wherein the common access resource pool 502 is not expanded.

Fig. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating an example method 800 for reducing collisions in unlicensed transmissions, in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. The method 800 may be implemented in a base station 104. For simplicity of discussion, the method 800 will be described with reference to a single base station 104 communicating with a single IOE device 106, although it should be appreciated that the aspects described herein may be applicable to multiple IOE devices 106 and/or base stations 104. It should be understood that additional method blocks may be provided before, during, and after the blocks of method 800, and that some of the blocks described may be replaced or eliminated for other embodiments of method 800.

At block 802, the base station 104 receives an unlicensed transmission from the IOE device 106 using the first access resource. As described with reference to the various figures above, the IOE device 106 randomly selects a first access resource 504 from the common access resource pool 502, where the base station 104 may have transmitted the common access resource pool 502 (and a copy of the reserved access pool 506) at some previous point in time, e.g., as part of a System Information Block (SIB).

At block 804, the base station 104 searches the common access resource pool 502 to identify a first access resource 504 from the common access resource pool 502 for transmitting data (and thus, is able to process the transmission). According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the number of access resources in the common access resource pool 502 is kept at a manageable number in order to prevent the search complexity of the base station 104 from increasing. The base station 104 performs this search due to an unauthorized transmission, the base station 104 does not know when particular IOE devices 106 are awake, or what access resources they select (until the base station 104 receives the transmission). In one embodiment, the base station 104 performs this search by comparing the received unlicensed transmission to each scrambling code or interleaver in the common access resource pool to detect which particular scrambling code or interleaver results in a higher energy output.

At decision block 806, the base station 104 determines whether a request to reserve the second access resource 508 in the access pool 506 is included in the transmission from the IOE device 106.

If a request is included, the method 800 proceeds to block 808 where the base station 104 analyzes the reserved access pool 506 to identify available access resources 508 that may be used by the IOE device 106 at block 808. If no request is included, the method 800 proceeds to decision block 818 where the base station determines whether the data transmission is complete at decision block 818. If the data transfer is not complete, the method 800 returns to block 802 to continue receiving the unlicensed transfer and performing as described above (further below). Conversely, if the data transfer has been completed, the method 800 proceeds to block 816 and ends.

Returning to block 808, the method 800 proceeds to block 810. At block 810, the base station 104 sends an acknowledgement to the requesting IOE device 106 with an identification of the selected second access resource 508, where the requesting IOE device 106 can continue the current transmission using the selected second access resource 508 without further risk of collision with transmissions from other unauthorized sources. The confirmation may include: the IOE device 106 may be used to locate the identifier of the identified access resource 508 from a local copy of its reserved access pool 506. Alternatively, the acknowledgement may include sufficient information about the selected access resource 508 with which the IOE device 106 can begin communicating without reference to the local copy of the reserved access pool 506. In another embodiment, the base station 104 (or IOE device 106) may additionally specify a delay (e.g., a number of frames or a time period) before switching to the second access resource 508.

At block 812, the base station 104 switches to the second access resource 508 identified in the acknowledgement (or other message).

At block 814, the base station 104 continues to receive data in the transmission using the second access resources 508 until the transmission is complete, at which point the method 800 proceeds to block 816 and ends.

As a result of the above, the base station 104 avoids further increasing the search complexity because the common access resource pool 502 is kept at a manageable size, while significantly reducing the probability of collisions (and the probability of eliminating collisions when using the reserved access pool 506) because a larger pool of available access resources in the access pool 506 is reserved (the base station does not perform a search) compared to the number of available access resources in the common access resource pool 502.

Information and signals may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout the above description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof.

General purpose processors, DSPs, ASICs, FPGAs, or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, or any combinations thereof, for performing the functions described herein, may be used to implement or perform the various exemplary blocks and modules described in connection with the present disclosure. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices (e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a number of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration).

The functions described herein may be implemented in hardware, software executed by a processor, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software executed by a processor, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Other examples and implementations are within the scope of the disclosure and the claims appended hereto. For example, due to the nature of software, the functions described above may be implemented using software executed by a processor, hardware, firmware, hardware wiring, or any combination thereof. Features used to implement functions may be physically located in multiple locations, including being distributed such that portions of functions are implemented in different physical locations.

Further, as used herein (which includes the claims), an "or" as used in a list item (e.g., an "or" as used in a list item ending in a term such as "at least one of or" one or more of) indicates an inclusive list such that, for example, list [ A, B or at least one of C ] means: a or B or C or AB or AC or BC or ABC (i.e., A and B and C). Furthermore, it is also contemplated that the features, components, acts, and/or steps described in connection with one embodiment may be constructed in a different order than presented herein and/or combined with the features, components, acts, and/or steps described in connection with other embodiments of the present disclosure.

Embodiments of the present disclosure include a computer readable medium having program code recorded thereon, wherein the program code comprises: code for causing the first wireless communication device to transmit a first subset of data to the second wireless communication device using a first access resource selected from a common pool of access resources as part of the unlicensed transmission. Further, the program code further comprises: code for causing the first wireless communication device to request the second wireless communication device to provide the second access resource from the reserved access pool in response to determining that the unlicensed transmission exceeds the threshold. Further, the program code further comprises: code for causing the first wireless communication device to transmit a second subset of data to the second wireless communication device using the second access resource after transitioning to the second access resource.

Further, the computer-readable medium further comprises: code for causing the first wireless communication device to receive an acknowledgement of the request from the second wireless communication device, wherein the acknowledgement includes an identification of the second access resource. Further, the computer-readable medium further comprises: code for causing the first wireless communication device to select a first access resource prior to transmitting the first subset of data. Further, the computer-readable medium further comprises: wherein the first access resource is randomly selected from the common pool. Further, the computer-readable medium further comprises: wherein a copy of the common pool and the reserved access pool is stored in a memory of the first wireless communication device. Further, the computer-readable medium further comprises: code for causing the first wireless communication device to complete the transmission using a second access resource, wherein the second subset of data comprises the remaining amount of data. Further, the computer-readable medium further comprises: code for causing the first wireless communication device to analyze a downlink message from the second wireless communication device prior to initiating transmission of the first subset of data; code for causing the first wireless communication device to predict a transmission metric for transmission of the data based at least in part on an analysis of the downlink message; and code for causing the first wireless communication device to compare the predicted transmission metric to a threshold to determine whether the predicted transmission metric exceeds the threshold. Further, the computer-readable medium further comprises: code for causing a first wireless communication device to determine a transmission metric during transmission of a first subset of data; code for causing the first wireless communication device to compare the determined transmission metric to a threshold during transmission of the first subset of data to determine whether the determined transmission metric exceeds the threshold; and code for causing the first wireless communication device to include a request for the second wireless communication device to provide the second access resource as part of the first subset of data in response to the comparison. Further, the computer-readable medium further comprises: wherein the common access resource pool and the reserved access pool each comprise at least one of a scrambling code/access time pair or an interleaver/access time pair. Further, the computer-readable medium further comprises: wherein the first wireless communication device is an internet of everything (IOE) device and the second wireless communication device is a base station.

Further, an embodiment of the present disclosure also includes a computer readable medium having program code recorded thereon, the program code comprising: code for causing the first wireless communication device to search a pool of common access resources to recover a first subset of data received from the second wireless communication device using a selected first access resource from the pool of common access resources as part of the unlicensed transmission. Further, the computer-readable medium further comprises: code for causing the first wireless communication device to receive, from the second wireless communication device, a request to provide the second wireless communication device with a selected second access resource from the reserved access pool. Further, the program code further comprises: code for causing the first wireless communication device to transmit an identification of a selected second access resource from the reserved access pool to the second wireless communication device. Further, the program code further comprises: code for causing the first wireless communication device to switch to the second access resource to recover the second subset of data from the second wireless communication device without searching the reserved access pool.

Further, the computer-readable medium further comprises: code for causing a first wireless communication device to maintain a reserved access pool, wherein the reserved access pool comprises: code to reserve a first subset of available access resources and a second subset of unavailable access resources of an access pool; code for causing the first wireless communication device to select a second access resource from among the first subset of access resources in response to receiving the request from the second wireless communication device. Further, the computer-readable medium further comprises: code for causing the first wireless communication device to transmit an identification of the second access resource as part of an acknowledgement of the request. Further, the computer-readable medium further comprises: code for causing a first wireless communication device to receive a request from a second wireless communication device as part of a first subset of data. Further, the computer-readable medium further comprises: code for causing the first wireless communication device to receive the request using the first access resource after receiving at least a portion of the first subset of data. Further, the computer-readable medium further comprises: wherein the common access resource pool and the reserved access pool each comprise at least one of a scrambling code/access time pair or an interleaver/access time pair. Further, the computer-readable medium further comprises: code for causing a first wireless communication device to determine a range of access resources to include in a common access resource pool and a reserved access pool. Further, the computer-readable medium further comprises: code for causing the first wireless communication device to transmit the determined common access resource pool and a copy of the reserved access pool to the second wireless communication device. Further, the computer-readable medium further comprises: wherein the first wireless communication device is a base station and the second wireless communication device is a user equipment.

Further, embodiments of the present disclosure also include a first wireless communication device comprising: means for transmitting a first subset of data to a second wireless communication device using a first access resource selected from a common access resource pool as part of an unlicensed transmission. Further, the first wireless communication apparatus further includes: means for requesting the second wireless communication device to provide the second access resource from the reserved access pool in response to determining that the unlicensed transmission exceeds the threshold. Further, the first wireless communication apparatus further includes: means for transmitting the second subset of data to the second wireless communication device using the second access resource after the transition to the second access resource.

Further, the first wireless communication apparatus further includes: means for receiving an acknowledgement of the request from the second wireless communication device, wherein the acknowledgement includes an identification of the second access resource. Further, the first wireless communication apparatus further includes: means for selecting the first access resource prior to transmitting the first subset of data. Further, the first wireless communication apparatus further includes: wherein the first access resource is randomly selected from the common pool. Further, the first wireless communication apparatus further includes: wherein a copy of the common pool and the reserved access pool is stored in a memory of the first wireless communication device. Further, the first wireless communication apparatus further includes: means for completing the transmission using a second access resource, wherein the second subset of data includes the remaining amount of data. Further, the first wireless communication apparatus further includes: means for analyzing a downlink message from a second wireless communication device prior to initiating transmission of the first subset of data; means for predicting a transmission metric for transmission of data based at least in part on an analysis of the downlink message; and means for comparing the predicted transmission metric to a threshold to determine whether the predicted transmission metric exceeds the threshold. Further, the first wireless communication apparatus further includes: means for determining a transmission metric during transmission of the first subset of data; means for comparing the determined transmission metric to a threshold during transmission of the first subset of data to determine whether the determined transmission metric exceeds the threshold; means for including a request for a second wireless communication device to provide second access resources as part of the first subset of data in response to the comparison. Further, the first wireless communication apparatus further includes: wherein the common access resource pool and the reserved access pool each comprise at least one of a scrambling code/access time pair or an interleaver/access time pair. Further, the first wireless communication apparatus further includes: wherein the first wireless communication device is an internet of everything (IOE) device and the second wireless communication device is a base station.

Further, embodiments of the present disclosure also include a first wireless communication device comprising: means for searching a common access resource pool to recover a first subset of data received from a second wireless communication device using a first access resource selected from the common access resource pool as part of an unlicensed transmission. Further, the first wireless communication apparatus further includes: means for receiving, from the second wireless communication device, a request to provide the second wireless communication device with a second access resource selected from the reserved access pool. Further, the first wireless communication apparatus further includes: means for transmitting, to the second wireless communication device, an identification of a selected second access resource from the reserved access pool. Further, the first wireless communication apparatus further includes: means for switching to a second access resource to recover a second set of data from a second wireless communication device without searching a reserved access pool.

Further, the first wireless communication apparatus further includes: means for maintaining a reserved access pool, wherein the reserved access pool comprises: reserving a first subset of available access resources and a second subset of unavailable access resources of an access pool; means for selecting a second access resource from among the first subset of access resources in response to receiving the request from the second wireless communication device. Further, the first wireless communication apparatus further includes: means for transmitting an identification of the second access resource as part of an acknowledgement of the request. Further, the first wireless communication apparatus further includes: means for receiving a request from a second wireless communication device as part of the first subset of data. Further, the first wireless communication apparatus further includes: means for receiving the request using the first access resource after receiving at least a portion of the first subset of data. Further, the first wireless communication apparatus further includes: wherein the common access resource pool and the reserved access pool each comprise at least one of a scrambling code/access time pair or an interleaver/access time pair. Further, the first wireless communication apparatus further includes: means for determining a range of access resources to include in the common access resource pool and the reserved access pool. Further, the first wireless communication apparatus further includes: code for transmitting a copy of the determined common access resource pool and reserved access pool to a second wireless communication device. Further, the first wireless communication apparatus further includes: wherein the first wireless communication device is a base station and the second wireless communication device is a user equipment.

As will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art, many modifications, substitutions, and variations in the materials, devices, configurations, and methods of use of the apparatus of the present disclosure may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure, depending on the particular application at hand. In view of this, the scope of the present disclosure should not be limited to the particular embodiments shown and described herein, as they are merely exemplary, but rather should be fully commensurate with the claims appended hereafter and their functional equivalents.

Claims

1. A method for wireless communication, comprising:

responsive to the metric exceeding the threshold, including, by the first wireless communication device, a request for reserved access resources from a reserved access pool in a first data transmission comprising a first set of data;

sending, from the first wireless communication device to a second wireless communication device, the first data transmission including the request using unlicensed access resources from a common resource pool, the common resource pool being smaller than the reserved access pool;

receiving a message from the second wireless communication device identifying the reserved access resource; and

transmitting, from the first wireless communication device to the second wireless communication device, a second data set comprising a remaining amount of data using the reserved access resources.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: randomly selecting, by the first wireless communication device, the unlicensed access resource from the common resource pool.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: setting, by the first wireless communication device, a flag in a header of the first data transmission as the request for the reserved access resources.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: comparing, by the first wireless communication device, the metric to the threshold prior to including the request for the reserved access resources.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: predicting, by the first wireless communication device, the metric prior to including the request for the reserved access resources.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising: analyzing, by the first wireless communication device, a downlink message from the second wireless communication device, the predicting the metric being based on the analysis of the downlink message.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: continuing, by the first wireless communication device, to transmit at least a portion of the remaining amount of data using the unlicensed access resources until receipt of the message identifying the reserved access resources.

8. A first wireless communications device, comprising:

a processor configured to: in response to the metric exceeding the threshold, including a request for reserved access resources from a reserved access pool in a first data transmission comprising a first set of data; and

a transceiver configured to:

sending the first data transmission including the request to a second wireless communication device using unlicensed access resources from a common resource pool, the common resource pool being smaller than the reserved access pool;

transmitting a second data set comprising a remaining amount of data to the second wireless communication device using the reserved access resources.

9. The first wireless communications device of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to: randomly selecting the unlicensed access resource from the common resource pool.

10. The first wireless communications device of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to: setting a flag in a header of the first data transmission as the request for the reserved access resources.

11. The first wireless communications device of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to: comparing the metric to the threshold prior to including the request for the reserved access resources.

12. The first wireless communications device of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to: predicting the metric prior to including the request for the reserved access resources.

13. The first wireless communications device of claim 12, wherein the processor is further configured to: analyzing a downlink message from the second wireless communication device, the predicting the metric being based on the analysis of the downlink message.

14. The first wireless communications device of claim 8, wherein the transceiver is further configured to: continuing to send at least a portion of the remaining amount of data using the unlicensed access resources until the message identifying the reserved access resources is received.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having program code recorded thereon, the program code comprising:

code for causing the first wireless communication device to include a request for reserved access resources from a reserved access pool in a first data transmission comprising a first set of data in response to the metric exceeding a threshold;

code for causing the first wireless communication device to send the first data transmission including the request to a second wireless communication device using unlicensed access resources from a common resource pool, the common resource pool being smaller than the reserved access pool;

code for causing the first wireless communication device to receive a message from the second wireless communication device identifying the reserved access resources; and

code for causing the first wireless communication device to transmit a second data set comprising a remaining amount of data to the second wireless communication device using the reserved access resources.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, further comprising: code for causing the first wireless communication device to randomly select the unlicensed access resources from the common resource pool.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, further comprising: code for causing the first wireless communication device to set a flag in a header of the first data transmission as the request for the reserved access resources.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, further comprising: code for causing the first wireless communication device to compare the metric to the threshold prior to including the request for the reserved access resources.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, further comprising: code for causing the first wireless communication device to predict the metric prior to including the request for the reserved access resources.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, further comprising: code for causing the first wireless communication device to continue transmitting at least a portion of the remaining amount of data using the unlicensed access resources until the message identifying the reserved access resources is received.